Technology shares surged on stellar profit at Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc., sending the Nasdaq 100 to a record on its biggest gain since March of last year.

The S&P 500 Index also hit a new high, after the U.S. saw its strongest consecutive quarters of growth in gross domestic product in three years. Bonds rose as speculation mounted about the next Federal Reserve chair.

“The GDP number is pretty much kind of a continuing series of upside surprises in the global economy,” Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds Inc., said by phone. “Growth has been significantly better, perhaps better than what most of us had expected, and it continues to surprise on the upside. That’s not just in the U.S.”

Recent data have also underscored the strengthening recovery in the euro-area, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. saying European companies are showing profit growth that’s twice the pace of their U.S. counterparts in the third quarter. That’s helping propel the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to its best annual performance since 2013.

Positive earnings surprises from companies including Volkswagen AG boosted confidence, though miners underperformed as the greenback’s run hit industrial-metal prices. As stocks gained, the euro headed for its worst week since November. The pound dropped as concerns about the Brexit process lingered.

Spanish stocks continued to lag as Europe’s worst constitutional crisis for decades came to head. Catalan lawmakers Friday voted to set up an independent state. Spain’s prime minister dismissed the regional government, dissolved its parliament and called a regional election for Dec. 21.

In the U.S., House Republicans unlocked a process to cut taxes by the end of the year. Treasury yields fell on a report that President Donald Trump is leaning toward nominating Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to lead the U.S. central bank, a move that would signal continuity in monetary policy.

A potential Powell nomination brings “more of a relief that, although the Fed may tighten, they’re not really taking on a hawkish stance,” David James, who helps oversee $6 billion at James Investment Research in Xenia, Ohio, said by phone.